I decided to check this out after trying out your more recent project, and honestly this is the first text-based H-game I've tried that's actually clicked with me. I've tried Degrees of Lewdity but didn't enjoy it, and CoC was fun for a bit until I got bored. But Succubus Stories somehow hits all the notes those games didn't. I will admit that having some character art does help, but I think it's mainly how good the writing is. The player character actually having goals and a strong personality also really helps prevent things from feeling aimless, which is a problem I've had with most text-based H-games I've tried. Genuinely really like Paige as a character too. I don't know how intentional it is but I feel like her and Iris kinda both echo this idea/theme of succubi and sexual desire being intertwined with desire for freedom. Idk I might just be pretentious but I get this feeling from them both so strongly. Of course, that might only because I chose the dialogue option for MY version of Paige (or as I named her, May) to not mind being a succubus. Maybe if I had chosen for her to want to be human again, I'd be getting a different vibe? Part of the appeal of these types of games is building your own interpretation of the main character ig
I’m so glad you liked the game! It’s so interesting you see them as representing a desire for freedom. I consider freedom to more or less be the core theme of Hex. It is a big theme in SS as well, but SS’s main theme in my opinion is probably more about justice or revenge on place of justice. It’s a revenge narrative, but while you’re on the hunt for your own very justified revenge, you become embroiled in a bigger and much more insane revenge plot that’s obviously over the line. And I think it’s interesting how those two things intersect. That said, it is a fap material game and I probably take the story way too seriously in both games, haha. But it’s very creatively fulfilling for me to be able to tell relatively dramatic stories while also writing perverted smut.
After finishing the game, I can confidently say that if Hex reaches even half of the level of quality of storytelling as SS it will blow my initial expectations out of the water. My only gripe is that I wish there was more to the Otherworld, maybe some hidden story-related content, but the fact my only complaint is "I want more" speaks volumes. Also, never stop taking the stories you write seriously. Discovering genuinely good writing in H games like Monster Girl 1000 and Fortnight At Frenni Fazclaire's is why I've started getting into them so much lately, and it's how I found your work in the first place. I again am probably going to sound pretentious, but porn is an artform like any other, and like any artform it can focus on eliciting just a single feeling (horniness) or blend and mix all kinds of emotions and ideas together.